Ignition system



H. FORD IGNITION SYS'I'EI FiledJune 30, 1928 Aug. 23, 1932.

2 Sheet s -SheQt 1 M INVENTOR. R. H ku: 6:. 19m.

A TTORNEYJ,

H. FORD 1,873,369

mm'rxou sys'rnu Aug. 23, 1932.

Filed Jun? 30, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 A TTORNEYJ main Aug. 23', 1932 UNITED, STATES :PATE

Nr "orrlcs my 203]), Oi nmnsoml, IICHIGAN, ABSIGHOB 1'0 FORD ROTOR comm, OI

' DEABBORN, MICHIGAN; A OORPOBAT'ION 01' DELAWARE IGNITION Application fled lane 80.

provide an ignition device for use in connec tion with an automobile engine: which is cheap to manufacture, easy to assemble and readil re laced or repaired.

Stil a urther object'of my invention is to provide in connection with an ignition device, a locking device and switch connected through an armored cable with the ignition device whereby the lock' may be used to ground the circuit or to supply the proper current to the device.

Still a further object of my invention is to provide means for connecting the lead wire or the ignition device to the condenserand breaker members in such a 'way that it will render difiicult and delay unauthorized tampering with theignition circuit.

Still a further object of my invention is to rovide a plate which serves to support and protect a bus-bar which connects the leadwire with the condenser,;the parts being so arranged that concealed screw must be unscrewed before this plate can be removedso that the connection between the lead wire and the condenser may be so protected that it v cannot be tampered. with expeditiously.

Still a further object of my invention is, to provide a breaker supporting plate which is readily detached and attached in the assembly by means of projecting lugs and interlocking slots.

With these and other objects in view, my invention consists in the arrangement, combination, and construction of the various parts of my improved device, as described in the specification, claimed in the claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 shows a side elevation of an ignition device constructed in accordance with my invention, the device being installed on an automobile, parts being broken away to better illustrate the construction.

Figure 2 shows a longitudinal vertical sectional view through my improved device, one

a Referr' sYs'rma 1m. Serial at. 289,444. of the baton arms being shown in elevato the aecompanyin drawin I have indicated an.automobile aving t e radiator shell 10, hood 11,dash 12, instrument board or panel 13, a gas tank 14, and an 05 engiiie having the 'cyhnder head 15. This cy der head is held in place by bolts or studs and nuts 16. Sparkplugs 17 are mounted in the c linder head 15 in the ordinary manner. ounted on this cylinder head ismy improved'ignitiondevice or distributor.

The housing 18 of the distributor has a downwardly projecting sleeveor ilot 19 which extends into the cylinder hea and is locked from vertical reciprocation therein 76 by a set screw 20 having the lock nut 21, the set screw extending into the annular groove 22 in the pilot 19. This mounting permits rotary movement of the housing 18 relative to the cylinder head 15. r

A pair .of bearing sleeves 23 are setfinto the bore through the center of the housing 18 and the pilot 19, and the distributor drive shaft 24 is 'ournaled in this bore and the sleeves 23. on the shaft 24 just above the top of the cast-- ing 18 and a gasket 26 is disposed between this shoulder and the casing 18. A pin 27 is extended'to the lower end of the shaft 24 just below the bottom of the ilot 19 and 90 serves to lock a sleeve 28 onto t e lower end of the shaft 24. This sleeve 28 and the shoulder 25 serve to normally hold the shaft 24 from axial displacement in the housing 18.

The lower end of the shaft 28 is provided 05 with an eccentric extension 29 which is designed to co-act with a correspondin groove in the shaft which co-acts with the drive shaft 24 so that the latter may be driven from some driven shaft on the engine.

n annular shoulder 25 is formed l cored through this boss with its axis laying in a chord of the housing so that'a round condenser'assembly 34 may he slipped into this opening in the boss 33. The con enser is held from movement of the housing 18 by a laterally extending bracket 35 which has one end secured to the adjacent end of the condenser 34 and the other end secured to the exterior of the housing 18 by the screw 36 which is held from accidental loosening by the lock washer 37." y

The inner end of the condenser 34 is provided with a screw threaded sleeve 38 designed to receive the screw 39. A bus-bar 40 is extended into proximity to the sleeve 38 so that the bus-bar ma be clamped between a fiber washer 41 and t e sleeve 38 hi means of the screw 39. The parts are sos aped that the head of the screw and the outer surface of the washer will be 'ust inside the casing and just in front of t e condenser 34. An

opening is made in the casin at this point having an annular shoulder surrounding the o ning so that a wax or asphalt seal 43 may i; set in this shouldered opening 42 around, the head of the screw 39 and a ainst the surface of the washer 41, this seal held in place by the shoulders of the openin 42. e y

TVhen it is desired to remove the condenser 34, it will be seen that it is necessary to unscrew the screws 36 andto break the seal 43 so as to get at the head of the screw 39 to loosen the condenser from the bus-bar 40, the latter being locked in place in the casing by means which will hereafter be described.

Mounted on the dash 12 of the vehicle is a lock switch 44 which is operated by the lock 45 mounted on the instrument board. This locking switch '44 is constructed so that when it is locked, then the lead wire therefrom will be grounded and so that when it is in unlocked position thenthe lead wire therefrom will be connectedthrough a wire 46 with the coil 47. LThe switch and lock, in the form of device hereshown, are connected through a flexible shaft 48 which is housed in an armor conduit 49 extending between the dash 12'and instrument board 13. An armored wire 50 serves as the lead wire from the switch 44 to the. distributor housing 18.

s 33 is cast in the housing 18 adjacent .to one side thereof and a hole is The upper portion of the wire 50 is of the of making it necessary to unscrew the appropriate bo or nut 16 and to unscrew the tube 51 from the housin 18 in order to remove the distributor assemb y from the cylinder head.

A protecting and supporting disc 53 is mounted about the middle of the housing 18 just above the bosses holding the condenser 34 and the oil passageway 31. This disc is screwed'down to the housing 18 by the screws 54 which are held from accidental displacement by the lock washers 55. It will be noted that this disc extends out to the inner surface of the housing 18 and inwardly to the central boss which has the distributor shaft 24 therein so that access to the lead-in wire 50 and the condenser 34 from the outside can onl be seecured by removing the protecting ated from The bus-bar 40 is riveted to but insu thelower side of the protecting disc 53 by means of the rivets 56 and the insulating washers 57.

As has heretofore been described, the busbar 40 is secured to the condenser 34 by, the screw 39 which can onl be removed by knocking out the seal 43 so It this protecting disc 53 cannot be removed to remove the bus-bar 40 until this screw 39 has been unscrewed from the condenser 34. The end of the wire 50 which extends through the steel tube 51 into the housing 18 is provided with an integral rounded head 58 which has a spring 59 back of it which bears against an insulating sleeve 60 mounted in the endof the tube 51 whereby the end of the wire 50 may be pressed inwardly toward the center of the housing 18 by the spring 59. I The bus-bar 40 has the hot 61 formed therein which'receives this ead 58 on the-wire 50.

From the description of the foregoing it will be seen that.the head 58 is yieldingly urged into contact with the bus-bar 40- so that this lead wire 50 has an electrical connection with the bus-bar 40. It will also thus be seen that when the switch 44 is operated to furnish the proper current to the lead wire 50, then the current may be furnished to the distributor through the busbar 40. On the other hand if the switch 44 is grounded, then the lead wire 50 will also be grounded and the condenser and the distributor will be grounded. The bus-bar 40 has an extension 62 which extends up through a notch in the disc 53 and which is connected to asvaaee a wire The notch in said is considerably larger than the extension 62 so that i there is no electrical connection between these housing 18, an an and which enter notches 67 in the'upper side of the groove64 toform a bayonet joint connection so that the breaker assembly plate 65 ,may be rotatably mounted in the casing 18 and held from axial movement relative thereto. a A coilspring 68 extends between the protecting plate 53 and the breaker assembly sup- 1:. porting plate 65 so as to eliminate any possiility of rattle of the breaker assembly plate. This breaker assembly supportin .plate 65 has anintegral arm 69 extended t erefrom it which is rovidedwith a ball 70 at the end and forme thereof. from the distributor and to be connected toa time control lever whereby. the breaker'mechanism position may be vari'edto therebyvary' the timin of the engine as desired.

Exten 1n upwardly from this-plate integrally therewith is an upwardly extending boss having a trans verse. bore therethrough designedito receive 7 an adjusting screw 71. One side of the bore is slotted so that a clamping screw 72 may be screwed down to lock the adjusting screw 70 yer propery adjusted. A contact point 73 is welded or otherwise secured to the end of theadj-usting screw 71.

' Asegment of insulating material 74 such as fiber is riveted as at 75 to theplate 65. A stud 76 extends down through the'insulating segment 74 and a properly placed notch in the plate 75 and the second end of the wire 60 is secured to the lower end of this stud 7 6. A second stud 77 is similarly secured in the insulating se ent 74 and the breaker arm 77 is journa ed thereon. A sprin 78 cooperates with the stud 76 and 78 to yield-- mg y urge the arm 77 toward the adjusting screw 71. The arm 77 has a contact 73. thereon which contacts with the contact 73 and the adjusting screw 71 so that a circuit may be completed from the lead-in wire 50 to the ground through plate 65 and housing 18 when the breaker arm is in position with the contacts 73 in contact with each other.

The end of the distributor shaft 24 near the shoulder 25 is bored out and threaded to receive a set screw 78 whereby a cam 79 may be locked from rotation relative to the shaft 2Q by its engagement with the set screw and the shoulder 25. The adjacent surfaces of the cam and shoulder may be roughened if desired to insure against accidental rotation of the cam on the shaft 24.

The arm 77 has a fiber cam contact 80 erned thereby.

The upper end of the cam 79 is contracted terial is slid down over this contrac is arm is designed to extend out tightly in place when it has been .which is secured thereto by the rivets 81 whereby the arm 77 is insulated from the cam 79 but still its movements at 82 "to form a shoulderand a distributor arm 83 which is molded from insulatin ma- POI,

may be govtion of the cam..'. The position of this distributer member 83 is governed by a notch 84 formed in the. surface of the cam 79 and rtion'85 .on-the inner surface of the distri utor member 83 a correspondingshoulder whereby said arm can only be installed in.

from. One of these strips 87 extends over -to position adjacent to the wall of the distributor head and the other extends inwardly and upwardly to position at the top center of the distributor casing. -'From the construction of the parts just described, it will be seen that rotation of the distributor drive shaft 24 will rotate the cam Y .7 9 which in turn willactuate the breaker arm 77 to bring together and separate the contact points 73. This same rotation of the cam 79 will also rotate the distributor arm 83 to control the output of the high tension current from the distributor.

The head proper of the formed in two parts, one of them being the body of the distributor casing to which I- have given the reference numeral 89 which is nerally of hollow cylindrical shape and distributor is 1. 10C

wh ch has arms 90 projecting in either direction therefrom. These arms 90 and the Each lead wire extends from position withtributor arm out through an arm and its outer end is then turned upwardly to extend out of the arm at 92. v These ends 92 form a. contact for a short leaf spring bus-bar 93 which connects this contact 92 with the adjacent spark plug 17.

Each wire 91 is extended through the proper arm to position as near as is practical to the appropriate spark plug. The inner ends of these wires 91 are also so arranged that they extend slightly into the interior of the body 89 in symmetrically spaced positions therein so the distributor arm may pass each of these inwardly extending ends during each revolution thereby supplying the high tension current to the spark plugs 17.

The bus-bars 93 are eachprovided with notches in either end thereof designed to enter annular channels in the ends of the contacts 92 and similar channels in the top of the spark plugs 17 whereby the inherent resiliency of these bus-bars due to the fact that they are of greater length than the straight line distance between said contact and the spark plugs will hold these bus-bars in osipen and insure good electrical contact t ere- The to of the distributor is closed by a cap 94 w ch has an annular flange downwardly extending flange 95 at the outer edge thereof which engages a correspondin upwardly extending ange on the distri utor body 89 to thereby center and locate the cap 94. The ca 94 has a metallic contact sleeve 96 molded t erein which has a piece of carbon 97 placed into the bottom thereof in position so that the carbon will contact with the upwardly extending strip 88 of the distributor arm 83. The contact sleeve 96 is designed to receive the lead-in wire 98 which extends from the bottom ofthe'coil 47 to this contact 96.

The body member 89 and the ca 94 are which in turn are riveted into the ears 101 which extend outwardly on o 'te sides of the housing 18. The tops 0 t ese spring fingers 99 are bent over at 102 to engage the top of the cap 94 to tlmlebRlDld the cap and body on the ousing 18. e body can only be installed on the housing in one position I because of the arm 69 and a locking pm 103 way that several arts have to be displaced or re laced in or er to drive away the automobi e unlawfully. For instance, if it'is desired to change the distributor it is necessary to both remove the set screw and to remove the nut 16 in order to loosen up the sleeve 51. This makes the problem of tampering much more difficult. Still a further advantage results from the use of my im proved device in that access can only be obtained to the condenser assembly by removing a concealed screw. The rigid steel sleeve protecting the lead-in wire forms a further rotection against unlawful tampering. Still a further advantage results from the manner in which the condenser and lead-in bus-bar isprotected from tampering. Still a further'advantage results from the novel manner of mounting the breaker contact assembly on a late which is readily attachable and detacha 1e and which still is prevented from rattling and rotates on the axis of the distributor operating shaft. Still a further detachably secured together and to t e hous-Y ing 18 by means of spring fingers 99 which; are journaled at lower ends on the pins connectioni said plate having senses advantage results from the use of my improved istributor head wherein the headis extended by means of arms to such position that the contacts on these arms are so close to the-spark plu that short spring bus-bars can be used a the dan er of shorts is'reduoed to practically not ing. Still a further advantage results from the use of my improved distributor head in that I am onabled to eliminate all flexible lead wires and 3 to make a single piece of wire take the place of inside and outside contacts for a-distributor head and also the major portion of the lead wire from the distributor to the s rk plug. Still afurther'advantage' results m n theease in assembling and disassembling tother with the cheapness with which-it may manufactured. P Some changes may be made in the arr :ment, construction, and combination of t a various parts of in improved device without departing from t e spirit of my invention and it is my intention to cover .by m claims such changes as may reasonably be included within the scope thereof. a

I claim as my invention:

1. In a device of the character described, a

casin ,.'a distributor head mounted thereon,

,said istributor head having a slot therein, and abreaker assembly suppprting plate ayonet oint an adjusting arm exten ed therefrom through the slot in the head and the parts being so arran d that the plate will be rotatably mounts in the mountedin said casing with a not casing when the head is installedbut removal of the plate can only occur when the head is removed from the casing.

2. In a device of the character described, a casin a distributor head mounted thereon, I said distributor head having a slot therein, a breaker assembly supporting plate mounted in said casing with a bayonet jointconnection, said plate having an adjusting arm extended therefrom through the slot in the head and the parts being so arranged that the plate will be rotatably mounted in the casing when the head is installed but removal of the plate can occur only when the head is removed from the casing, and (yielding means for engaging casing an plate to urge the plate to one l1m1t of its.movement whereby rattle may be eliminated.

3. In a device of the character described, a housing, said housin having an annular groove in the inner wall thereof adjacent to one end thereof, the wall of said groove having portions thereof broken away, a breaker supporting plate having extendin lugs thereon adapted to enter said grooves t rough said broken away portions 7 whereby said breaker supporting plate may be rotatably and detachably mounted in said casing, and yielding means extended between said casing and said plate adapted to yieldingly urge said lugs into contact with the walls of said groove. 7

4. In a device of the character described,a distributor housing, an armored lead wire ex- 5 tending into said housing, a protecting plate mounted in said housing ad'acent to its unction with said lead wire, a reaker assembly plate mounted in said housing on the side of said plate opposite said junction, a bus bar in- 1 sulatingly secured to said protecting plate forming an electrical connection between the breaker assembly plate and said lead wire, and a concealed and sealed-in connection for securing said protecting plate in said housing whereby said protecting plate can only be removed by locating said connection and destroying the seal.

5. In a device of the character described, a casing, an armored lead wire extending into said casing near the bottom thereof, a protecting plate mounted in said casing above said lead wire junction, abreaker assembly supporting plate mounted in said casing with a bayonet type connection above said protecting plate, means extending through said protecting plate for electrically connecting the lead wire with the breaker assembly and sealed-in means for securing said protecting plate to the casing whereby said protecting plate can only be removed by locating said seal and destroying same.

HENRY FORD. 

